101. Buddy of the Legion (1935)

Release date: April 6th, 1935

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Ben Hardaway

Starring: Tommy Bond (Buddy), The Singing Guardsmen (Chorus)

It always amuses me to see Clampett and Jones sharing an animation credit, seeing how bitter their rivalry was. Another one of the “legion” cartoons, started by Bosko and continued with Porky. Buddy becomes engrossed in a book while working at a bookstore, imagining himself taking on a bunch of amazons.

Buddy merrily strolls along the street, a sign advertising “BOY WANTED” diverting his attention. The sign pertains to a local book shop that’s hiring, evidently right up Buddy’s alley. He marches into the shop, rocking behind a woman scratching down some writing. She only takes notice when Buddy clears his throat, displaying the sign proudly and declaring “I’m your boy!” The woman barks at him to take off his hat and turn around to investigate his physique (Buddy flexing his muscles for her). Satisfied, she hands him a duster and tells him to get busy.

Whistling joyously, Buddy does his duties, swinging a gate shut behind him, which propels him forward to a table. He dusts a few knickknacks, which include a cat and a fish. His boss tells him to take care of the store and to put away a pile of books, which he gives her his affirmation.

While he carries the tower of books, a pesky bee circles him, landing on his nose. I wonder if this is a Chuck Jones scene? The layout and looks of it remind me of his late '30s and early '40s entries. I could be wrong, though. Buddy attempts to swat at it with one hand, the other supporting his leaning tower of literature.

Carrying a stack of books on one hand proves to be more difficult than desired for buddy. He runs around the store as the books lean like a staircase, trying desperately to avoid a catastrophe, but to no avail. He crashes into a stove, a shower of books engulfing him.

One particular book catches Buddy’s attention as it plops open in his lap. “LIFE IN THE FOREIGN LEGION”. Immediately engrossed, Buddy reads the book as he situates himself at a desk.

Turning a few pages, an illustration of men marching in the desert comes to life, Buddy right at the front as he joins the singing soldiers in their chorus. A collection of gags includes a soldier’s veil getting in the way of another soldier, and a man riding a camel kicking his feet up.

Cut to the Amazonian village, where a woman is whipping a man and laughing. It feels like a parody in itself, which may be half true--this is just too asinine for me to take seriously. A man begrudgingly washes some bloomers, while another sulks on a treadmill powering a waterwheel. One of the Amazonians spots his sloppy work and blows part of her hookah at him, picking up the pace.

One of the Amazonians spots Buddy and his legion through a telescope, sliding down a pole and warning the amazon smoking her hookah. The smoking amazon tweets on a whistle, summoning a blackface caricature (of course) to wheel out a sarcophagus. After the amazon mutters a few incomprehensible spells, an attractive woman saunters out at her request. The “leader” summons a magic carpet for her servant to ride on. A few hand motions and the woman is off on her flying carpet, landing in the desert, right where the legion is approaching.

Each of the soldiers become wooed by the girl’s dancing, a sure plan to bring them back to the Amazonian village. Amusing visual of all of the soldiers’ heads rising up and turning backwards to get a good gander at their eye candy. Eventually, all of the soldiers up and leave, enthralled by the girl’s charm... save for Buddy, always faithful and loyal.

Buddy realizes he’s been deserted and blows his trumpet in an attempt to summon back his legion. Of course, nothing. He runs back the way he came, hoping to reassemble is group.

Elsewhere, the Amazon is leading her gaggle of men into the village. The lead Amazonian is there to smack all of the guys silly, propelling them away. I do like the “You wouldn’t punch a guy with glasses, right?” gag, a man holding up his hand before the amazon packs a punch and pointing to his glasses. She kindly takes them off and socks him right in the face. I also enjoy the camel sequence—she smacks a camel, who becomes punchy and begins to shadowbox. 

At last, Buddy enters the village. Being too short, the amazon swings a hit and misses, punching the entrance door instead. With her hand stuck, buddy uses the extra time to observe his surroundings—men washing clothes and a forlorn man (and camel) on the waterwheel treadmill, the camel complaining “I’m so tired!” in an ode to Greta Garbo.

A woman hiding in a pot attempts to slice buddy open with a sword, yet fails as he dashes away just in time. Buddy dives down a chute that leads to outside, the woman herself getting stuck. Arriving back inside the village, Buddy closes the chute’s gate over the woman, which stabs her painfully in the butt.

An angry army of women charge after Buddy. Spotting a rock nailed to a piece of stick, which, in turn, has a bucket on the other end and the entire stick is secured to an upstanding piece of wood, Buddy spins the contraption around, the bucket smacking each woman that charges at him and sending them flying. The men cheer buddy on for his bravery. However, one of the stragglers pops out of the well the contraption was under and throttles buddy repeatedly.

Fade back to present day, where the amazon shaking Buddy vigorously is actually his ill-tempered boss, furious at him for reading on the job. She drags him along the store, Buddy bumbling along and grabbing his hat. One final kick outside the door and a toss of the book. Buddy, bursting with thrilling dialogue, just responds “Okey-dokey!” and saunters off was we iris out.

Definitely one of the lesser Buddy cartoons. There isn’t much to remark on, more so than usual. It was pretty sexist, but unfortunately that’s another common theme in some of these cartoons, among an amalgamation of other ugly concepts. Even then, it’s important to remember it in context of then AND now—not that that excuses anything at all. The opening exposition was a nice way to introduce the plot, and I enjoyed the scene of the camel shadow boxing after it got walloped by the Amazonian, but other than that... nothing exciting. Probably best to skip.

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